


Just for Tonight

by Magefeathers



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 20:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19180774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magefeathers/pseuds/Magefeathers
Summary: “Tonight… I don’t want to be a hacker,” he admitted. “I just want to be a student, back home for his birthday, spending the night with a cute girl.”This response caught MC off guard, left her floundering in search of a response. The man didn’t give her time to find one.“Just for tonight. Pretend I’m an average guy that you met in an average way, and have a nice, pleasant evening with me. That’s… all I want. For my birthday.”





	Just for Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> This is the epitome of "I wrote this for myself but y'all can read it if you want." Based on the birthday event chat with Unknown by himself. Transcript included for anyone who didn't get the chat. Those of you who did, feel free to scroll on past it!
> 
> Kind of out of character for Unknown, but so were most of his chat rooms in this event, imo. But that's okay, I love all the Saerans! If Unknown wants to channel his inner Ray, who am I to stop him?

**Unknown:** Hi!

**Unknown:** Long time no see.

**Unknown:** We chatted before, remember?

**Unknown:** Thanks to your help back then,

**Unknown:** I could perform my task without trouble.

**Unknown:** Oh! It’s nothing strange.

**Unknown:** I told you I’m studying abroad, remember?

**Unknown:** But if you don’t remember, well… It can’t be helped.

**Unknown:** Anyways

**Unknown:** umm…

**Unknown:** I’ll be back in Korea today.

**Unknown:** Remember that I told you

**Unknown:** I’ll make it up to you if you help me? ^^

**Unknown:** So

**Unknown:** do you have time today?

**Unknown:** Why don’t you join me to see the sky tonight?

**Unknown:** There is this haven of mine that no one else knows.

**Unknown:** A place i always visit when i visit korea sometimes.

**Unknown:** I’d love to go there with you.

**Unknown:** …

**Unknown:** To be honest

**Unknown:** today is my birthday.

**Unknown:** And you are the only one who could congratulate it for me.

**Unknown:** You will not regret it

**Unknown: if you come to me.**

**Unknown:** I’ll make it a very pleasant day for you.

**Unknown:** I even made a crown with red roses for you. ^^

**Unknown:** I’ll bring ice creams too. It’s summer, so it could get hot.

**Unknown:** Let’s also watch popular Getflix movies these days.

**Unknown:** I’ll get everything ready.

**Unknown:** You will join me, won’t you?

**Unknown:** I’ll be waiting for you, MC.

MC stared down at her phone, confused by the volley of messages she’d just received. She knew she should tell Seven that the hacker was contacting her again, but something made her hesitate. There was a hopefulness to his messages, and an uncertainty that she hadn’t sensed when he was first coaxing her to go to the apartment. Was he serious about this fantasy birthday date with her that he’d laid out in the chatroom? If he was still lying about who he was, surely knowing full well that she knew the truth, then it was no small possibility that he was lying about it being his birthday as well. But if he were lying again, why did his messages come off so anxious this time, when he’d coerced her so smoothly before? She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he was just more comfortable with lying than telling the truth.

She chewed at the inside of her cheek as she debated. The chatroom was still open. Was he waiting for her to answer? She pictured him clutching his phone in his hand, staring at the screen expectantly. With that image in mind, she couldn’t find it in her heart to say no.

**MC:** Okay. Tell me where to meet you.

The sun was already down by the time she arrived at the specified location. He had said it was going to take him a few hours to get back into town, making her wonder for a moment if maybe his foreign student bit wasn’t entirely fake. She didn’t know what to expect when she walked into the forest clearing where he’d said he’d be waiting for her, but what greeted her was… nothing. The clearing was empty. Her brow furrowed, and she turned in place, searching for her mysterious date. When she couldn't find any trace of another person, she pulled her phone out of her purse and opened the map app to make sure she was in the right place. It was then that she heard the rustling of someone approaching through the trees.

"You came," a relieved voice greeted from behind her. When she turned, she found a young man with bleached white hair, dyed pink at the tips, and piercing mint eyes. He wore torn jeans and a white, short-sleeved oxford shirt, unbuttoned over a black tank top. In one hand he carried a small cooler; in the other was the flower crown he’d told her he’d made. She couldn’t help but smile at the sight. 

As she looked him up and down, MC noticed the bottom half of a sleeve tattoo peeking out from beneath the sleeve of his shirt. Her gaze lingered on it, her curiosity piqued. Before she replied, she met the man's eyes.

“You don’t look a whole lot like your picture.”

The hacker laughed, but the sound was tinted with anxiety. “Are you disappointed?” he asked.

MC pursed her lips, shook her head. “Not disappointed. Not surprised, either.” She sent him a teasing grin. “I definitely wouldn’t have trusted you. You just _look_ like a hacker.”

At that, the man frowned. He watched her for a moment, a puzzled furrow to his brow. When he spoke, his voice was low.

“Tonight… I don’t want to be a hacker,” he admitted. “I just want to be a student, back home for his birthday, spending the night with a cute girl.”

This response caught MC off guard, left her floundering in search of a response. The man didn’t give her time to find one. He took a step towards her, and she took a step back. He cocked his head to the side, an amused smile returning to his lips.

“Don’t pretend you don’t like me,” he teased. “You came all this way to see me. You must like me, to do all that.” He took another step forward, and this time she allowed it. MC watched with wary eyes as the stranger approached, stopping before her and setting the cooler down on the ground. When he rose, he placed the flower crown atop her head, adjusting the ribbon to make it a more comfortable fit. Once he was satisfied, he gazed down upon her with a fond smile. MC clutched at the strap of her purse as the warmth of a blush crept across her cheeks.

“You like me enough to pretend, don’t you?” he murmured. “Just for tonight. Pretend I’m an average guy that you met in an average way, and have a nice, pleasant evening with me. That’s… all I want. For my birthday.”

MC was reminded of all of Seven's jokes about the tragedies of being a hacker, how he wasn't allowed to have his own life or family, how he could get in trouble for even being in the RFA, if anyone at his agency found out. Everyone always brushed him off because he was so dramatic about it, and he always came away laughing. Now she wondered if he had been trying to tell them the truth all along. She inspected the man before her, noticed the tension in his stance, the hope in his eyes. Her heart told her that his request was genuine. She smiled at him, and turned slightly away to dig through her purse.

"Happy birthday," she said, presenting him with a thick square wrapped in beach-printed paper. The man furrowed his brow as he took the gift, turning it over in his hands to examine it. MC elaborated, "I didn't know what you would want, so it's nothing special, but… I hope you like it."

He turned his attention from the gift, back to MC. “Any present from you is special to me, princess.”

Her blush deepened at the pet name, a detail that didn’t go unnoticed. He gave her a smirk before returning his gaze to the gift, and tearing into the wrapping paper. He retrieved his prize quickly, pulling the fluffy fabric from its paper confines and letting it unfurl in the breeze.

"A blanket?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. MC shrugged.

"I know it's summer so it might not get much use right now, but I figured anyone would enjoy a nice, soft blanket to wrap up in for winter time."

The man offered one side of the blanket to her. “We can make use of it right now,” he said, nodding at the ground beside them. “So we don’t have to sit in the grass.”

MC smiled, grabbing the edge of the blanket and helping him spread it out over the grass. The man moved the cooler to the center of the blanket, and the two of them sat on opposite sides of it, facing each other.

“I also didn’t know what you would want,” the man said, pulling ice cream cones and a scoop from atop the ice, “so I just… brought a variety.” He then pulled out a tub of three-flavored ice cream, tilting the label toward MC so she could see.

“Well, lucky for me, I like all of those flavors,” she announced, and the man’s shoulders visibly relaxed. He scooped a cone for each of them, making sure they both got a little bit of each flavor, and even pulled out a small bag of decorative chocolate sticks to garnish the cones with. 

"Fancy," MC commented, and the man let out a laugh.

When they had their treats he moved the cooler aside, making room for them to sit side by side. He looked up at the stars, and MC followed suit.

"Wow," she breathed, drawing the man's attention back to her. "I hadn't really bothered looking up yet," she explained, casting him a quick glance. "You can see so many stars from out here."

He smiled, returning his gaze to the sky. "There's almost no light pollution this far out. Isn't it beautiful?" 

MC could only nod, her words failing her as her eyes flickered from star to star.

The pair sat in silence for a short while, eating their ice creams and admiring the cosmos. The man finished his cone first, laying back on the blanket and folding his hands behind his head when he was done. MC turned to peek over her shoulder, watching him stealthily as she finished her own cone. He'd called this place his haven, and it was easy to see why; he looked so at peace, laying there, watching the stars. It was hard to believe this was the man who had given the RFA so much trouble, who’d had Seven working all hours of the day and night to protect the chatroom's servers. Her mind drifted back to what he'd said in the chatroom: _'To be honest, today's my birthday. And you're the only one who could congratulate it for me.'_ She wondered what his life was like, why he attacked the RFA, why he had to pretend to be someone else to enjoy his own birthday. She wondered what his life would be like, if he wasn't a hacker. 

"So… What can I call you, birthday boy?"

He flinched a bit, not expecting her question. He glanced at her, shrugged, looked back to the sky. "Birthday boy sounds fine to me."

MC pouted. "That's almost as bad as Unknown," she protested. "Surely you have a name."

The man sighed, propping himself up on his elbows to gaze at her with sad eyes. "It's dangerous enough that you know my birthday." His voice was quiet, mournful. It made MC's chest feel tight. "I'm sorry. I can't tell you my name."

Disappointed, but not wanting to put a damper on their night, MC laid down beside him. He settled back down onto his back, and MC scooted closer. She tucked herself against his side, and his body went rigid beside her. She tilted her head to peer up at him.

“Is… this okay?” she asked, hopeful. A bright pink blush bloomed across his face right in front of her eyes.

“Y-yeah,” he answered, averting his gaze. “It- it’s fine.”

MC smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. After he’d had a few minutes to calm down, he began telling her about the stars. He murmured soft words into the flowers adorning her hair, telling her the stories of the constellations while one hand pointed out the stars in question and the other arm not-so-subtly wrapped around her shoulders. MC soaked up the stories like a dry sponge, fascinated by the amount of knowledge he had on the subject. 

“You’re a twin, right?” she asked suddenly, and the man went stiff again.

“What?” His voice was tense, his arm had tightened around her shoulders, and MC looked up at him with a furrowed brow.

“A gemini,” she clarified. “Isn’t it still gemini season?”

He exhaled a deep breath that sounded a little too much like a sigh of relief, causing MC further confusion as he returned his eyes to the sky.

“Yes. There’s gemini over there.”

She watched his finger move from star to star, tracing the outline of the twins, and she smiled. Tucking her curiosity away, she pushed herself up on one elbow and grinned down at him.

“How about one of those Getflix movies you promised me?”

* * *

By the time she got back to the apartment, it had reached that time of night where it was hard to tell whether to call it late or early. She got cleaned up and changed for bed, and promptly dropped herself onto her mattress. 

Despite her fatigue, MC’s mind wouldn’t keep quiet. She was still reeling from the realization that the RFA’s biggest enemy wasn’t actually a bad guy. Despite the difference in personality, he’d reminded her so much of Seven; just a young man who’d been forced into being something he didn’t want to be, keeping his potentially tragic past all to himself. Her thoughts turned again to all of Seven’s jokes, to the inescapable feeling that they really were cries for help. Rolling towards the bedside table, she grabbed her phone.

**MC:** You still up?

The response was almost immediate.

**707:** Yup yup. Something wrong?

**MC:** Can I call you?

The speed with which the phone started to ring told her she should have given more of an answer.

“Everything’s fine,” she assured as soon as she accepted the call. Seven sighed with relief. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. I just wanted to talk.”

“At this hour?” Seven asked with a dramatic gasp. “Methinks sweet MC is looking for a scandal!” MC giggled in response.

“I just got home!” she cried in her defense. 

“Ooh~ So there _is_ a scandal,” Seven prodded. “Just none for poor, lonely Seven Zero Seven!” He sniffled for added effect, and MC felt her chest tighten.

“I was… out with a friend. We had a long night,” she explained. “But, Seven… That’s what I wanted to call you about.”

“To help bury the scandal?” His voice was entirely too excited at the prospect.

“To…? No, I meant… So you wouldn’t be lonely.”

There was a pause, and then Seven laughed, but the sound was a few shades darker than his usual delighted peel. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. I was with Madam Vanderwood all day. It was only a joke!”

MC took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to explain herself without giving away the details of her night.

“I know, you’re always joking,” she said. “But, if you ever _weren’t_ joking… I mean… I guess I just wanted you to know that you could talk to me. If you wanted to. Or rather, if you needed to.”

A longer pause, another laugh. This one was decidedly sad.

“Are you a mind reader, MC?” His voice sounded hollow, and it turned MC’s stomach to knots. She’d never talked to him on the phone while he was upset, only in the chatroom.

“Talk to me,” she coaxed.

Seven took a deep breath, and heaved a long sigh. 

“Do you remember me telling you about… my other half?” he asked. “The person I can only meet in my dreams?”

MC nodded, the phone call in question returning to her mind. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Well… Today - or, yesterday now - was that person’s birthday.”

MC’s eyes widened, as pieces she didn’t realize were from the same puzzle started to fit together.

_‘It’s dangerous enough that you know my birthday. I can’t tell you my name.’_

The way the hacker had tensed when she asked if he was a twin.

_‘Other half.’_

Seven continued, while MC’s mind raced. “I always get extra sentimental on that person’s birthday, since I can’t congratulate it for them anymore… I worry that they don’t have anyone to congratulate them.”

_‘You’re the only one who could congratulate it for me.’_

“I’m sure that person has someone.” MC tried to keep her voice optimistic, but she could hear it waver. She prayed Seven was too wrapped up in his own story to notice.

“I hope you’re right,” Seven replied. “Everyone deserves at least one person to congratulate their birthday.”

MC hesitated, anxious to test her theory, but not wanting to cross any lines. “Speaking of which, Seven… When’s your birthday?”

Seven chuckled, a bit of life returning to his voice. “Who, me~? The Defender of Justice has no birthday! I’ve existed for millennia, travelling across time and space to wherever I’m needed most!”

She laughed along with his joke, glad to hear him perking back up.

“Well, even if that is the case, you still deserve birthday congratulations too!” MC announced. “So happy birthday, Defender of Justice! May the universe shower you with all the Honey Buddha Chips and Phd. Pepper you desire!”

Seven gave a mortified gasp. “Phd. Pepper shower?” he asked. “Sounds sticky. I think I’d rather drink it.”

MC laughed again. “Whatever you prefer! It’s your birthday, after all. Hypothetically.”

Seven was quiet for a few moments, and when he spoke again his voice was soft.

“Thank you, MC.”

MC smiled into the dark apartment.

“Any time, Sev.”

**Author's Note:**

> The phone call where Seven mentions his 'other half' to MC was on Deep Story day 4! I'm pretty sure there were more, but tbh I got tired of looking for them lol.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed! If you did, please leave a comment to let me know! You have no idea how much your comments mean to me. ^^
> 
> I actually wrote something similar to this for the Mysme Secret Santa last year! But I couldn't stop myself from writing something for the best boys' birthday too. ♥ You can find that fic, plus a couple others that aren't uploaded here, on my tumblr page! http://magefeatheredfic.tumblr.com  
> I have requests open over there! Just make sure you read the rules if you want to send one in. ^^


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